Ribbon Tugging
by pessimistie
Summary: High School AU. Rin is getting sick of Mikuo's constant harassment. "Wha-? I'm not running to anyone! I just can't stand being near you!" MikuoRin and other pairings in future chapters. T for Language.
1. Friday May 9, First Year

"What is your problem?!"

The high pitched sound of a girl echoed through Class 1-V. It was lunch time and the shrill cry had caused what little people that were left in the classroom to go silent.

Kaiko sighed, resting her chin in her hands as she watched her best friend struggling against a green haired teen's grip on her ribbon.

The green haired boy smirked and gave the white ribbon on a young blonde girl's head a hard tug upwards, making the blonde screech angrily.

"Obviously you Shorty. You dared to ignore me this morning and this is your punishment."

"Don't call me that! I told you already, it's Rin! Rin! Rin!" Rin clawed at the boy's hand, hoping to get him to let go.

The green haired boy laughed at her attempt, "Like I care, now abou-"

"Mikuo! What are you doing? Let go of Rin."

Mikuo scowled, but reluctantly let go of Rin's ribbon and turned to face Rin's twin brother.

"Oh? Back already? I thought you and Miku-nee were having a lunch date on the roof today."

Len blushed at the comment, and quickly slapped a scowl on his face, "It's not a date! And I thought I told you to not bully Rin!" The classroom that had previously been quiet was now slowly coming back to life as the students began conversing amongst themselves again now that the 'usual entertainment' was put a stop to.

After being let go, Rin had quickly stood next to her brother with an angry glare directed towards Mikuo. Mikuo had watched her scramble to Len's side with an annoyed look, "What? Running to your baby brother for protection?" he asked tauntingly.

"Wha-? I'm not running to anyone! I just can't stand being near you!"

Mikuo looked at her coolly with a raised brow, "Oh really?"

Len sighed heavily and ran his hand over his face while Kaiko, who was still sitting at her desk, looked at Mikuo sympathetically.

"Okay you two, that's enough for today." The four directed their attention to a tall red head, who was calmly walking towards Mikuo, slinging his arm around his best friend. "You're gonna scare poor Kaiko."

Kaiko gave her cousin an incredulous look and opened her mouth to say something; but unfortunately, Rin had beaten her to it.

"Akaito-kun! Thank god your here, do something about him please? I just want to have lunch without him picking a fight with me for once." She turned to the red head with pleading eyes, "Pretty please Akaito-kun?"

"Hmm..." Akaito rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Well...I _guess_ I could...but..."

"I'll lend you my English notes for a week."

"Deal." With a grin, the red head started to drag his best friend away, "You sure know how to be persuasive Rin-chan! Come on Mikuo, Neru is waiting for us."

Rin sighed, and turned to give her twin a hug, "Thanks for coming to the rescue baby brother; I thought he was going to rip my head off."

Len snorted and tried to untangle her arms off him, "Yeah right, he wouldn't do that."

"He was! Kaiko, you saw how hard he was tugging!" she turned to the blue haired girl.

Kaiko nervously shifted in her seat at the sudden attention she was receiving, "Actually, I agree with Len-kun. He wouldn't do anything to really hurt you..."

Rin started at Kaiko, "Why are you always defending him?" she asked suspiciously, "Kaiko...do you like that guy?" Kaiko's eyes widened at the accusation, and shook her head violently, "No! That's not it! It's just..."she bit her lip and gripped the bottom of the sweater of her uniform. She glanced at Len, who took a seat diagonally from Kaiko and gently shook his head 'no'.

"Ah. Well, Rin-chan, I don't like him like that. But I think he bullies you because he...he..." she glanced at Len again, who gave her a pleading look, "he...probably wants to be your friend?"

Rin gave her a confused look, "Kaiko...that doesn't really make sense."

"Yeah Kaiko, you should think of better lame excuses." A deep voice said with a hint of amusement.

Kaiko jumped at the voice, "N-Nero-kun?"

The blond haired boy grinned at Kaiko's uneasy look before turning towards Rin with a flirtatious smile, "Mikuo just likes attention, he's like a little kid. Unfortunately Rin, you are good at overreacting to his messed up ways."

Len snorted and shook his head, "I think that sounds more like you and Neru to me."

Nero laughed and pushed his bangs to the side, "No, no. Though, you're right about one thing, my sister is kind of like that...Well, as they say, 'birds of a feather flock together'...or something."

Rin sat heavily in the seat next to Len with a frown, "I don't care what kind of animal they resemble, he's driving me crazy!" exasperated, she turned to Len with a pleading look, "Can't you ask Miku-sempai to do something about him? He's really getting on my last nerves."

Len looked at her sister oddly, "Me? Why do you want me to ask Miku-sempai?"

"Well, you _are_ dating her aren't you?" Nero asked leaning on Kaiko's desk with one hand, while towering over the girl.

Len's jaw dropped and his face reddened considerably, "Why does everyone think that? We're not d-dating." Nero snickered while Kaiko simply smiled at his defensive words.

"Can we please get back to _my_ problem here?" Rin whined as she gripped at her almost forgotten lunch box.

Kaiko tilted her head slightly to the side, "Well, I don't really think there is much we can say that could help you...but have you tried asking him why he's being so mean to you lately?"

"Lately?" the other three asked at the same time.

Turning towards the blue haired girl, Nero looked at her as if she was an alien, "What do you mean 'lately'? The guy has been being an ass towards Rin since middle school. Don't tell me you never noticed that your best friend has been bullied for so long."

Kaiko flushed at the comment and ducked her head apologetically, "Oh. I...well I..."

Rin smacked Nero's arm lightly, a scowl on her face, "Leave her alone! We haven't been in the same class since our last year of elementary school. She never saw anything."

"Oh yeah..." he rubbed his arm with a faraway look.

"You mean he's been bullying you since middle school? How come you never told me?" Kaiko looked slightly hurt at the information.

Rin scratched head, embarrassed, "I didn't want to worry you..." Kaiko smiled gently, "I see."

Rin sighed and rested her head on her arms, "Besides...I think it only really started in our second year of middle school...I mean, we used to get along so well when we were kids, we were practically best friends. I really don't know what it was that made him change like that."

Len sighed and shook his head while Nero and Kaiko exchanged knowing looks.

'Rin is way too dense.'

* * *

Akaito rubbed his arm which throbbed from Mikuo's constant punches, "You don't have to be that mad."

Mikuo glared at him and moved to give him another good punch, Akaito quickly put his hands up in a 'wait a moment!' gesture.

"Hey, come on...I have something good for you that would totally put you back in a good mood."

Mikuo slowly dropped his fist and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pants.

Akaito, sensing that he was safe for now, grinned.

"So, I had to go see Hiyama-sensei in the teacher's room, and guess what I saw?"

Mikuo nodded for him to hurry it up, "Well...I saw next week's cleaning duty chart, and guess who's paired together." Akaito said in a sing song voice.

Mikuo slowly smiled, "Oh yeah?"

Akaito nodded, "Mhm, Kagamine Rin and Hatsune Mikuo. Starting Monday."

Mikuo laughed, "Well that sure did put me back in a good mood...but..."

"Ow! Why'd you do that for?"

Mikuo shrugged, "For ruining my fun time."


	2. Saturday May 10, First Year

"Mikuo? Are you up? We're going to be late for school."

Groaning, Mikuo slowly pushed himself off his bed, 'Curse you Saturday classes.'

"I'm up." Quickly picking up his school uniform from off the floor, he started getting dressed. Groggily, he tugged his blue and black plaid pants up his legs as he began to reflect on what Akaito had said yesterday. If he wanted everything to turn out well, than he better think of a plan.

After he had finished pulling on his dark blue sweater vest he ran his fingers through his thick green hair as reached for the door knob. As it was still early May, the weather still wasn't all that warm enough for him to dig through his closet for his summer uniform.

He pulled open the door, but paused and turned towards his bedroom window with a grin and small wave. The curtains from the window across from his were quickly snapped together and a shadowy figure could be seen.

Smile dropping, he tiredly rubbed his eyes and stumbled down the hall, he managed to drag himself slowly into the bathroom.

Reaching for his toothbrush he diligently started working on scrubbing his teeth clean as well as getting the disgusting 'morning' taste out of his mouth.

'If I want this to end up well, I have to make sure everything works out perfectly.'

* * *

"Good morning Mikuo." Miku greeted as Mikuo went to sit at the kitchen table.

"Morning Miku-nee." Miku smiled softly at her brother's monotone greeting.

"Mom and Dad already left for work, here." She placed a plate of eggs, bacon and toast in front of him.

"Oh, and by the way, Len-kun and Rin-chan are coming over so we all can go to school together."

The twins happened to live next door to them, so they had used to go to school together all the time from Elementary to Middle School. They hadn't really done that since the twins and Mikuo had entered High School. Miku would sometimes leave early for club or Rin just didn't want to deal with Mikuo picking a fight, so they had usually gone to school separately.

The twins wanting to go to school together was odd to him and also making him anxious as he stared down at his half eaten toast.

What should he do?

* * *

"Miku-sempai! Good morning!" Rin cried as she jumped into Miku's open arms, giving the older girl a big hug.

"Good morning Rin-chan, Len-kun." Miku smiled at the blonde girl who still had her arms around her.

She turned to Len, "So? Have you figured out your problem?"

Len smiled, "Uh, no. I'm still stuck." He replied with an uneasy look.

Miku had begun to say something, however, the sound of metal grating against the pavement reminded the three that there was still one more person unaccounted for.

Hands still resting against the metal gate of the house, Mikuo shot the twins a haughty grin.

"Morning Len..." he nodded to the blond who rolled his eyes, but he had nodded back with his own greeting to the smirking Mikuo. Mikuo turned to Rin, who still had her arms wrapped tightly around his sister. "Shorty."

Rin scowled and did not reply; she simply glared at him and began to start a conversation with Miku.

Len shook his head, and began walking. Miku and Rin followed behind while Mikuo walked slowly behind the pair.

"So then Sora asked me-"

"Hey, Shorty."

Rin scowled, angry that Mikuo had cut her off so rudely, "...What?"

"Where's my 'good morning'?" Mikuo asked with a grin.

"Why should I say good morning to you when all you said was 'Shorty'?" she huffed angrily.

Mikuo snorted, "Don't be so childish."

"I'm childish?" She exclaimed angrily, "Don't accuse me of being childish you-!"

Mikuo sighed, "It's just a 'Good Morning Oh Great Mikuo'. I'm not asking for a good morning kiss."

Rin spluttered indignantly, "What? I would never do either! I would never, ever want to kiss you ever!"

There was an awkward silence as the four continued on walking.

"Oh...um...I don't think I've told you yet Rin-chan, but sign up for Choir is starting on Monday and if you and Len are still interested..." Miku's voice trailed out at the end as she noticed that the neither of the twins seem to pay any attention to what the older girl had to say; Rin was busy trying to avoid making any eye contact with Mikuo while Len had slowed down to match Rin and Miku's pace, lips twitching slightly.

"Miku-nee, are you trying to drag them into your stupid little glee club? Even though it's full of idiots, I don't think they're stupid enough to let them in." Mikuo looked at his sister with a smirk on his face.

Miku sighed and shook her head, "Mikuo, just because you lack any singing talent doesn't mean that they do too."

Rin giggled at the comment while Len simply pretended to not hear the comment, not wanting to get into verbal fight with the green haired 'bully'. Mikuo shot her a glare, "What's so funny shorty? You don't seriously think you have a good voice do you?"

Rin bristled at the comment, "What's that suppose to mean?" Len sighed, "Rin, you get baited _way_ to easily..." Rin glared at her twin, "Stay out of this Len!"

"See, there it is." Mikuo smirked at the older twin, now standing directly behind her, "Whether it's singing or screaming like a banshee, your voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard." He reached out to grab at the black ribbon tied on top of her head, "You are so annoying."

Rin's face flushed red with anger, "Why you-!" Spinning around, she pushed the green haired boy hard, managing to force him to take a few steps back. "Asshole! I told you to stop pulling at my ribbons and I am not the annoying one, jerk!" Turning her back, she started to speed up her pace, seeing that the school was only a block away now and Kaiko was most likely waiting for her at the gate.

Len groaned, running his hand across his face, "Dude, how old are you? You really pissed her off this time." He turned to give the taller boy a disapproving look, "If I were you, I'd steer clear from her for the day. She'd totally flatten you with her fist."

Mikuo shrugged with a bored look on his face; pushing past Len and Miku, he quickly made his way to Akaito and Nel, who were waiting for him at the corner across the street from the school.

"What a dumbass, I can't believe he's your brother." Len raised an eyebrow, watching Mikuo punch a grinning Akaito and putting a blushing Nel in a headlock. Miku smiled, highly amused with her brother's antics and the 'little fight' that had occurred. "I think it's because I dropped him once when he was a baby."

Len rolled his eyes, "Right. Well, I see Sora, I'll see you later Miku-sempai. Oh, and Rin and I will be there on Monday for sign up." Waving at Sora and giving Miku a small smile, he dashed towards his friend, leaving the older girl to wonder how Monday will turn out. If Rin and Len were there for sign ups, what kind of people would be dragged along too?

"Well, now I really can't wait for Monday." She giggled to herself as she made her way to the gates.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone...and sorry for the really late update.


	3. Saturday May 10 Lunch, First Year

I twirled the straw of my juice carton as I watched Mikuo frivolously copy my history homework, "Hey...Kuo?"

"What?" Mikuo hadn't bothered to look up from his notebook; his face had scrunched up in a concentrating scowl, "Can't you wait until I'm finished? Lunch is going to be over is 20 minutes and I 'll be done in 5." He muttered quietly as his pencil continued its mad scratching in his workbook.

I started chewing on my straw thoughtfully, "Where's Rin-chan?" The miniscule twitch pretty much gave me the answer.

"Who knows. Now stop bothering me." He mumbled with a scowl, his front teeth now latched on to his bottom lip in concentration.

I really couldn't but snicker at his stubborn actions; he obviously let the blond out of his sight for a moment and was now clueless as to where she was. "You know Kuo-"

"Hey. Shut up." I rolled my eyes at his flat remark, it was best not to annoy him anymore. Skinny guy sure can punch. I didn't notice that my hand was rubbing the spot he punched yesterday until Mikuo had looked up to smirk at me, "Still hurts? Don't be such a baby."

"Hey! I'm not like you, you may be able to handle Rin-chan's abuse, doesn't mean you can compare me to you...you masochist..."I pouted, but the silence that hung between us warned me of danger. I crossed the line this time.

"Uh, what I mean to say is...uh well..." Oh god. My arm is definitely going to fall off.

"Bakaito, you should learn to keep your mouth shut. Seriously." I turned to see an annoyed Neru, waving her cell around, also never a good sign.

"Oi. Akita, that's Meiko-sempai's nickname for my stupid cousin. Not me." Why was everyone ganging up on me today?

"I can call you whatever I want Bakaito, now shut up and hear me out." Neru gently nudged my shoulder to scoot over a bit to let her sit on my chair as well.

"Hey stupid!" I nudged her back, "My seat can't accommodate your fat ass."

"What did you say?" she narrowed her eyes, looming over me. I grinned, "I said-"

"I heard what you said! You are so dead you-" I quickly brought my arms up to block her slaps aimed for my head while laughing at her. Her barrage of slaps were halted when Mikuo decided to intervene by slapping me upside the head. Some friends I have.

Neru smirked down at me, "As I was _saying_, you guys have to hear this."

I groaned, "Ugh, another crush? Girl, you have got to stop falling for guys so easily." Neru huffed indignantly and settled on glaring at me instead of instilling physical harm, "Who said this was about me? This concerns you, stupid."

I blinked, this was a first. Neru never bothered to tell me when someone ever had a crush on me, she had always only reported on girls who had a crush on Mikuo. It was never a secret to me that Neru had liked Mikuo when we were elementary kids, she always tried to get some alone time with him by getting rid of me. I unfortunately remember those times in 5th grade when she locked me in the closet after school and the teacher had to save me every time...if they ever bothered to check the closet. And people wondered why I always picked on Neru, I still blamed her for that one time she locked me in the closet and the one to let me out was my first crush Yufu. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, when she saw me freaking out and crying in the dark.

"Well," I kicked my feet up on top of my desk and tipped my chair back slightly, "can't help that I'm a charming young man. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with my picture on their walls." I grinned up at Neru, "So? Who's the lucky girl in love with me?"

Neru looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Who said anything about that? If you would just let me finish..."

I deflated in disappointment while Mikuo sighed, "Neru, just tell us."

Neru grinned, "I heard from a little birdie that Kaiko likes someone."

I didn't think it could be possible, but I really chocked on air, "Wait! Wait! This is Kaiko we're talking about. My cousin. My cousin who's probably never kissed a guy let alone held their hands. We're not talking about Kaiko right?"

I looked up at Neru who simply shot me a smug grin, "No, we're talking about Kaiko...and she apparently likes Mikuo."

I fell off my chair. No way. No way, absolutely no way was this true. "Stop bullshitting us. No way does Kaiko like Mikuo...just...no way." I may tease my dear cousin a lot, but we were still pretty close. When we were kids, we'd used to tell each other secrets, she had always been the little sister I never had and there was no way that she wouldn't tell me that she had a crush on my own best friend...right?

I chanced a glance at Mikuo who, though lacked any facial expression from the information so suddenly thrown at us, had a slight tick in his eyebrow. I wasn't blind; I've been friends with Mikuo since 1st grade. He was like a brother to me, we grew up together; and growing up together, I knew he was good looking. All through grade four till ten, he had all kinds of girls crushing on him. So maybe Kaiko liking him wouldn't be so odd, but I doubt my cousin was that shallow.

Then there was the fact that Mikuo would never consider her in a romantic way. I couldn't help but feel sad for my cousin; she could never take over the place in Mikuo's heart reserved for her own best friend.

I glared at Neru, "So where exactly did you hear this tidbit of information?"

Neru shrugged, her attention drifting back to her cell phone, "Actually, I overheard the conversation between Kaiko and Kagamine Rin yesterday after you two left during lunch."

I rubbed my temples in exasperation, this was getting to messy. I definitely heard the cold way she had Rin's name. Two girls crushing on one guy who's crushing on another girl. Yeah, life is so fair.

Mikuo hadn't said a word, but it was obvious he was thinking about the whole situation. Probably about dealing with the Kaiko crush thing while not hurting both me and Kaiko's feelings, and about Rin. Defintely about Rin. As close as we may be, there are times where I really don't know what he's thinking and this was definitely one of those times.

"Ah," I looked up at the clock, "Lunch is over."

* * *

A/N: Okay, some changes in pairings. It may not be just Len/Miku later on but Kaito/Miku/Len/Gumi. Of course I'm too sure yet. I'D LIKE TO SAY THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEW AND FAVOURITE THIS STORY. I'll try to update as much as possible but life's a drag...


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